Negotiations are continuing between BART and its two major unions and, as the San Francisco Chroniclereports, there will be no strike today. “We don’t want to talk about a strike; we want to get a deal,” said Chris Daly, political director of the SEIU.
In political news, New Jersey voters are heading to the polls today for a Senate special election to choose the replacement of the late Frank Lautenberg (D). The Wall Street Journal reports that Newark Mayor Cory Booker (D) is relying on union volunteers to help turn out the vote and punch his ticket to Washington.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting on the ongoing legal wrangling at Chrysler. Presently, the automaker is owned by Fiat SpA (58.5%) and a UAW-affiliated trust fund (41.5%), a capital structure that stems from Chrysler’s 2009 restructuring. Fiat is currently negotiating to buy the trust’s stake, which the trust values at $3.6 billion. If the parties can’t come to terms on price, Chrysler will have to move forward with an IPO.
In other auto news, South Korea’s Hankook Tire Co., maker of tires for familiar brands like the Ford F-150, is planning on investing $800 million to build its first US production plant in Tennessee. The Journal notes that Hankook is moving ahead even after learning of the UAW’s effort to organize VW’s plant in Chattanooga, something that state officials fear might chill auto and parts makers from investing in the state.
Over half of the nation’s 1.8 million fast-food workers are relying on public assistance totally $7 billion/year to make ends meet, according to a report by economists at UC Berkeley’s Labor Center and the University of Illinois. The Washington Postoffers commentary on the study, which was sponsored by Fast Food Forward, a group that supports walkouts in the fast-food industry.
A federal minimum wage for Germany? According to the New York Times, Germany’s center-left party is demanding that Chancellor Angela Merkel support a national minimum wage of 8.50 euros an hour ($11.55) in ongoing talks to build a coalition government after last month’s election. Ms. Merkel supports the traditional German practice of letting industry leaders negotiate wages with trade unions representing workers in a particular sector.
Daily News & Commentary
Start your day with our roundup of the latest labor developments. See all
September 12
Zohran Mamdani calls on FIFA to end dynamic pricing for the World Cup; the San Francisco Office of Labor Standards Enforcement opens a probe into Scale AI’s labor practices; and union members organize immigration defense trainings.
September 11
California rideshare deal advances; Boeing reaches tentative agreement with union; FTC scrutinizes healthcare noncompetes.
September 10
A federal judge denies a motion by the Trump Administration to dismiss a lawsuit led by the American Federation of Government Employees against President Trump for his mass layoffs of federal workers; the Supreme Court grants a stay on a federal district court order that originally barred ICE agents from questioning and detaining individuals based on their presence at a particular location, the type of work they do, their race or ethnicity, and their accent while speaking English or Spanish; and a hospital seeks to limit OSHA's ability to cite employers for failing to halt workplace violence without a specific regulation in place.
September 9
Ninth Circuit revives Trader Joe’s lawsuit against employee union; new bill aims to make striking workers eligible for benefits; university lecturer who praised Hitler gets another chance at First Amendment claims.
September 8
DC Circuit to rule on deference to NLRB, more vaccine exemption cases, Senate considers ban on forced arbitration for age discrimination claims.
September 7
Another weak jobs report, the Trump Administration's refusal to arbitrate with federal workers, and a district court judge's order on the constitutionality of the Laken-Riley Act.